Ask the drivers of Delhi. As they drive about, squinting through the haze, they have realized full well what air pollution could mean. As they taxied wheezing men, women and children in October of 2018, they realized they were in the midst of the first ever “medical emergency” due to air pollution.

The Air Quality Index of Delhi set new records as they reached a maximum 999. In blunt unscientific terms, the situation was akin to smoking more than two packets of cigarette every day in a city that was a literal ‘gas chamber’.

The taxiwallahs smirk at the tourists’ reaction to Taj Mahal, the universal symbol of love. The glistening white monument has been diagnosed with “Marble Cancer”, a condition culminating from the excessive pollutant particles in the air. A sickly yellow tinge now coats the mausoleum, despite strenuous efforts being made to restore the signature monument of the city. Overly populated cities, the subsequent vehicles that mushroom and the booming need for food bombarding farmers to burn 23 million tonnes of farm residue to clear the fields has clearly left its scar behind.Not to mention the 100 million housewives that cook by chullahs thereby signing up for death by damaged lungs.

The Tungabhadra river now runs dry. The temple priests who drew pail after pail of this holy water, now stand distressed. The rites had to be conducted by the small pools that are left by the sides, they complain, not realizing almost every other river in India suffers a similar fate. They don't know that since Vaigai river in the deep south ran dry, people have been boring deeper and deeper into the earth until one point when the sea water flooded in, leaving strips of salts across their bare skins as the bathed.

The infamous Koovam River that ferried haughty British officers across Madras is known for its distinct stink. On the banks where many a mighty temple stood, people, don’t trod anymore. Ganga is the classic tragedy that every Indian could recite. Her dolphins are gone with her tortured spirit that fled, leaving a dead carcass behind.

A daunting 80% of all the water in India has polluted with the 29000 million litres of sewage spewed daily into the land that has its treatment capacity at 6000 million litres per day.

The farmers of Ramanathapuram are long gone. There is no land left to sow. Where groundnuts, chillies and rice grew in clusters, bare land looks up at the sky. Landfills reach high against the tainted horizon. 40% of the municipal waste in India go uncollected. Plastic strewn across the land greedily captures the few drops of rain that falls in here. The laments that drift from Faridkot and Bathinda of Punjab strike even harder. Apparently, the children born there showed increased defects that prompted an investigation into the matter. The demon lay hidden in the fly-ash ponds of the thermal industries in the district.

By law, about 33% of any landmass is to be forested. The plethora of benefits the forests bestow upon humankind cannot be fit in phrases. Not many years have passed since the satellite pictures of India’s dwindling forests caused quite a stir. Despite that, India is still losing about 1.5 million hectares of forests every year. Not more than a pale 10% of the land is under forest cover. 132 critically endangered species of plants and animals have found a spot in the Red Data list of 2012 released at the Rio+20 Earth Summit.

The environmental challenges that threaten India are grave and require a spontaneous address. Despite statistical records pointing an appreciable spur in environmental restoration activities between 1995 and 2005, the truth rings loud- we are nowhere near the utopian society we dream of. It’s about time each one of us stepped in to contribute.

Death By Pollution

Ask the drivers of Delhi. As they drive about, squinting through the haze, they have realized full well what air pollution could mean. As they taxied wheezing men, women and children in October of 2018, they realized they were in the midst of the first ever “medical emergency” due to air pollution.

The Air Quality Index of Delhi set new records as they reached a maximum 999. In blunt unscientific terms, the situation was akin to smoking more than two packets of cigarette every day in a city that was a literal ‘gas chamber’.

The taxiwallahs smirk at the tourists’ reaction to Taj Mahal, the universal symbol of love. The glistening white monument has been diagnosed with “Marble Cancer”, a condition culminating from the excessive pollutant particles in the air. A sickly yellow tinge now coats the mausoleum, despite strenuous efforts being made to restore the signature monument of the city. Overly populated cities, the subsequent vehicles that mushroom and the booming need for food bombarding farmers to burn 23 million tonnes of farm residue to clear the fields has clearly left its scar behind.Not to mention the 100 million housewives that cook by chullahs thereby signing up for death by damaged lungs.

The Tungabhadra river now runs dry. The temple priests who drew pail after pail of this holy water, now stand distressed. The rites had to be conducted by the small pools that are left by the sides, they complain, not realizing almost every other river in India suffers a similar fate. They don't know that since Vaigai river in the deep south ran dry, people have been boring deeper and deeper into the earth until one point when the sea water flooded in, leaving strips of salts across their bare skins as the bathed.

The infamous Koovam River that ferried haughty British officers across Madras is known for its distinct stink. On the banks where many a mighty temple stood, people, don’t trod anymore. Ganga is the classic tragedy that every Indian could recite. Her dolphins are gone with her tortured spirit that fled, leaving a dead carcass behind.

A daunting 80% of all the water in India has polluted with the 29000 million litres of sewage spewed daily into the land that has its treatment capacity at 6000 million litres per day.

The farmers of Ramanathapuram are long gone. There is no land left to sow. Where groundnuts, chillies and rice grew in clusters, bare land looks up at the sky. Landfills reach high against the tainted horizon. 40% of the municipal waste in India go uncollected. Plastic strewn across the land greedily captures the few drops of rain that falls in here. The laments that drift from Faridkot and Bathinda of Punjab strike even harder. Apparently, the children born there showed increased defects that prompted an investigation into the matter. The demon lay hidden in the fly-ash ponds of the thermal industries in the district.

By law, about 33% of any landmass is to be forested. The plethora of benefits the forests bestow upon humankind cannot be fit in phrases. Not many years have passed since the satellite pictures of India’s dwindling forests caused quite a stir. Despite that, India is still losing about 1.5 million hectares of forests every year. Not more than a pale 10% of the land is under forest cover. 132 critically endangered species of plants and animals have found a spot in the Red Data list of 2012 released at the Rio+20 Earth Summit.

The environmental challenges that threaten India are grave and require a spontaneous address. Despite statistical records pointing an appreciable spur in environmental restoration activities between 1995 and 2005, the truth rings loud- we are nowhere near the utopian society we dream of. It’s about time each one of us stepped in to contribute.